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Discussion pages like this one are constantly filled with people saying "Aphantasia doesn't exist, it's just differences in how people describe the same thing,"
by yodon 2y ago
Discussion pages like this one are constantly filled with people saying "Aphantasia doesn't exist, it's just differences in how people describe the same thing," when the science in this paper and others is clear.
Yes, it's hard to imagine not seeing mental images if you can see them, and it's hard to imagine seeing them if you can't. Having a hard time imagining others are different doesn't mean we are all the same, it just means it's hard to imagine being different.
- notfed 2y agoThe science isn't clear at all. The question "To what extent do you actually see an apple?" is completely unscientific. You can't simply ask people questions, that's not science. It's also a question about qualia, which is notoriously a field of study resistant to science.
- yodon 2y agoPeople who report as aphantasia light up differently in an fMRI than those who do not report as aphantasia, and do so in consistent ways. They also have predictable differences in autobiographical memory and a number of other areas. Pretty sure that counts.
- notfed 2y agoHow many people have actually been studied in an fMRI aphantasia study? Like 10? I'll give you those people. But meanwhile on the Internet we have endless people claiming to they have aphantasia because they "only see black when they close their eyes". I don't think we should conflate these two.